Infamous
by GRINtelligencer
Summary: 20 myths, legends, and rumors surrounding the former Spirit Detective, Yusuke Urameshi. Oneshot.


**Infamous**

Dane Soar

Because you just have to wonder what kind of rumors Yusuke generated. Really. (More credit than I can say to the fic "_Infamy_" and Peroxidepest17 for the original idea and plot)

* * *

**1. Legendary**

Some people said, that the day when Yusuke Urameshi first put foot into Lord Koenma's office, the earth shook under his feet and the Prince himself went to his knees in awe of the young delinquent would soon become the greatest Spirit Detective ever.

This, of course, like most rumors that people tell regularly, is completely fabricated from fantasy. Both Botan and Koenma, and Yusuke too for that matter, would tell you this themselves. And they were there and thus, should know.

Yusuke had had the mother of all headaches, after all he'd recently been hit by a car and just because he was a ghost at the moment didn't mean that _it_ didn't remember that fact.

Botan had been a bit worried about that rip on the hem of her kimono that she'd gotten from Yusuke panicking on the rough oar ride over and doing a lot of frantic grabbing.

And Koenma, though only he himself ever knew this, had nodded off at his desk about five seconds before Yusuke had come bursting through the doorway.

So much for awe.

**2. Demonic**

Yusuke was a master of fighting. At this point, he wouldn't know why. But he did know he was good at beating any punk who tried to jump him within an inch of that punk's life.

Only an inch though because Yusuke always enjoyed a good fight and wanted to have some assurance that he'd have one again at a later time.

And then he'd studied under Genkai and found bigger and getter ways of fighting and picked them up eerily fast.

Those street thugs who tried to attack him then found themselves on the ground, or through the nearest wall, if they were really unlucky and he wasn't in a good mood.

After that had been a long time when he'd left with the others to be in and beat the Dark Tournament and learned a lot of interesting ways to kill people with his bare hands alone.

On his return home, anyone who picked a fight with Yusuke Urameshi found he fought with a hitherto unforeseen enthusiasm and broke a lot more bones than he did before, though it seems this was more by accident.

Then the whole fight with Sensui had left Yusuke with more power than he'd ever had before and a lot of demon heritage. The citizens of Spirit World were shocked to find this out and rumors flew about how they should have known.

But the thugs who he'd fought over the years could have told them that a long time ago.

**3. Boast**

Yusuke could boast like no one you'd ever hear, to hear him tell it, he'd been Spirit Detective for thirty years and led a team of more than twenty, and had had to carry more than half of them on his back off a battlefield as it was practically raining demons; although Kayko knew most of that wasn't true from what little of Yusuke's work she'd seen herself.

But sometimes, after a long string of stories, a true one would slip out. And if she was very, very lucky, it might be about his time it the Makai.

Then she heard about darkness, and evil, and about times when you were backed into a corner and hoped to any gods where listening to you praying that you'd make it out alive.

Then Kayko understood why Yusuke usually lied.

**4. Smoking**

"Do all demons smoke?" One ogre asked another.

"Yusuke does, and Hiei literally does."

"Wow, Yusuke does?"

"Yeah."

"I never noticed."

"You much have missed it with all the hair."

And crushing, overwhelming, demonic power, but that went unsaid between the two.

**5. Asking**

When Kurama had asked Yusuke if he could forgo this mission, just this once, he was uneasy about it. It was not something he liked doing, leaving Yusuke and Kuwabara on their own, but he thought that they would be fine. They had survived worse before he had come along. Or at least he was fairly sure they had.

He had come late to the briefing and so not been able to catch Yusuke while he was still in Koenma's office. He had had to run to catch up with Yusuke before he was out of Spirit World, which had made him arrive somewhat winded.

"Yusuke, I'm sorry…" he paused trying to catch his breath without looking like that was what he was trying to do. "… but I have something I need to do. Can you and Kuwabara manage without me?"

Shrugging, Yusuke said, "Yeah, we'll be fine. Go do your thing, if you have to."

He blinked, having expected a little more opposition. "What?"

"Sometimes there are things you have to do, eh Kurama?"

"…well, thank you."

"Anytime, Kurama, don't worry about it."

That day Kurama was touched that the half demon had enough trust in him to let him off without asking him why. It was something that he would remember days to come, and smile, just a bit.

Luckily, what Kurama didn't know, was that Yusuke had thought his sudden want to pass up a mission, had something to with the fact that Hiei hadn't shown up for the briefing either. Yusuke suspected there was something in the romance department going on there, after all, Kurama had shown up all breathless and red to talk to him.

Thankfully, no one ever told Kurama about this and he, in all his cleverness, never thought of that possibility.

**6. Alcohol**

There were people in Spirit World who swore on their graves that the monster Spirit Detective Yusuke Urameshi never got drunk. He could drink anyone under the table, and be hangover-less the next day.

What they never saw, was Hiei and Yusuke up drinking until three in the morning, with Kuwabara snoring on the table, and Kurama smiling at them as he had not entered the contest to begin with.

Neither would tell who had won.

Maybe it had been a draw.

**7. Hair**

It was hard to believe a young man with gelled back hair and baggy clothes could be one of the most deadly demons of the century.

Taking him in again, the bounty hunter almost laughed.

"Hey, what's that look for?" Yusuke crossed his arms in front of him. "Oh great, you're just like the last one Spirit World sent. Look, leave my hair out of this okay?"

The bounty hunter cracked up.

**8. Not Knowing**

Yusuke and Kurama had actually, not that many knew it, fought against each other at one point.

That point had been in another Makai tournament, and there had been plenty of spectators at first to see it, but most of them ran away, afraid of being crushed by demonic energy or being eaten by plants.

No one really knew the outcome of that battle, barring Hiei. After it, no one asked either of them who had won, for fear of the two in question.

Thus battle could only be imagined.

Hiei had seen it though, huddled down in his seat in the stadium to avoid any flying bits of things that would be bad to be hit with. It was a good thing no one else saw the fight however.

Yusuke had caught his toe in a crack in the stadium ring floor and fallen face first into the stone. Kurama, on seeing this, had laughed so hard, he pulled open the stomach wound he'd gotten in the last round and had ended up doubled up on the ground, laughing his ass off, while bleeding, with Yusuke also laughing so hard he had to sit down or fall over.

Hiei claims that Kurama won. Not that he's biased. And they'd have to take his word for it, because neither Kurama nor Yusuke could talk about the battle without laughing so hard they had to go into another room.

**9. Heartless**

A lot of those who don't know Yusuke very well are shocked by the fact he never really worries about the others on his team. They assume this is because he doesn't care what happens to them.

Koenma knows better then this though. He thinks that the others are fools for not seeing it. Yusuke is the only Spirit Detective he's had who actually _believes_ in his team enough not to worry about them.

Just because he doesn't worry, doesn't mean he does not care.

**10. Loot**

Some people said that in the three years that the former Spirit Detective had wandered the Makai, he plundered and pillaged from many bands of bandits there. He was a demon after all, that was what they were supposed to do.

And that somewhere, he had stashed an enormous pile of the loot he had gathered up.

Yusuke, in the meantime, still couldn't believe how damn expensive the price of living was in the Makai.

**11. Why**

"He must have coerced them somehow." That was the general consensus on how most people thought Yusuke had gotten teammates who were so powerful.

"Yeah, he brainwashed them with his evil energy!"

Though Hiei would have commented that required having a brain, which didn't explain Kuwabara.

"Why do you follow him then?" Some of them asked, if they had enough courage.

"Well, because Yusuke is Yusuke." Kurama had said, with a little smile to himself.

"He's my friend, and you don't leave a friend in trouble like that," said Kuwabara.

"Because he only beat the hell out of me when he caught me," snapped Hiei, then added in a softer tone that could have easily been missed by the inattentive ear. "and he could have just killed me." But most people missed that part.

And no one believes any of them anyway.

**12. Chosen**

Everyone wonders why Yusuke chose to settle down with a human in her world, but there were many speculations.

"Maybe he wants a potential hostage in case anyone comes after him."

"Perhaps in case he gets hungry."

"Or maybe for an alibi, who would believe a married man could be an evil demon?"

And sometimes, someone will say: "Maybe he just decided to settle down before it was too late."

But people usually just laughed that one off.

**13. Sleep**

Some from Spirit World had once asked Yusuke if he had ever slept with Kurama. After all, Kurama was a kitsune, so one had to wonder.

Yusuke had promptly elbowed the guy in the face and stormed off.

To tell the truth, in the most literal definition of the words, slept with, yes he had. Actually, he had with all the guys on the team.

After missions, they would sometimes be so exhausted that, after being patched up a bit by Kurama, they would all flop down into a pile of bodies. They would all fall asleep in a tangle of limbs that wouldn't be sorted out 'til they woke in a few hours. Even Hiei would end up part of the tangle, often drained by the use of the dragon.

Of course, Yusuke would never tell the guy asking him about this, dirty minds being what they were these days.

Besides, nothing beat those times waking up.

Slowly he had returned to the land of the living, and wondered briefly why it was all red in the real world. It took longer than it should have to realize that he was staring at Kurama's hair. He spluttered, and pushed it out of his face.

This time it was Kurama who had ended up beside him, Hiei laying diagonal to them both; his head on the fox demon's stomach while Kuwabara was sprawled across their legs in his typically intelligent fashion.

Yusuke's mouth turned up in a grin, because even though he was drained, sore, and laying on dirt, he was very comfortable, and going back to sleep.

**14. Back Guard**

Out of all the people in his team, Yusuke always knew he could trust Hiei the most of the group to have his back. No one would ever guess it, but what other reason would he let the small fire demon always walk toward the back of the group?

So that Hiei could watch over all of them with that creepy eye of his.

**15. Protect**

It was very quietly wondered, when Yusuke was first fired for the crime of being a demon, how a person who was obviously not so bad could suddenly turn out so evil. Of course, it was thought, he must have been faking, hiding his true nature. A demon, of course, could be nothing but cruel.

And the first time this was widely discussed, a very small and young fairy girl came forward, and told the story of the one time she had been harassed by a particularly sexist paper pusher in the records room. The former Spirit Detective had come on this scene, and punched the man's lights out.

That forestalled the evil demon talk for a while.

Yusuke, of course, claimed that the guy had looked at him funny and that he hadn't even seen the girl there.

Which, for the record, no one actually believed.

**16. List**

There was a rumor that said that Yusuke has a small and select list of people that he is willing to die to save; however no one is allowed to ever, _ever _ask if they're on the list, or what number they might be.

**17. Number One**

And there was another rumor that said Kayko was not the top person at the very top of the list.

He hopes that she will forgive him, because no matter how much he loves her, he and Kuwabara have always been at the top of each other's list.

In a manly way of course, loyalty to friends and all that.

**18. Meeting**

Everyone claimed that they must have met in the worst of hells, battling against evil and in overwhelming odds. They'd bumped up against each other, seen instantly that they were on each other's side, and from that second on, had been inseparable allies.

It was a far cry from that actual truth, but most rumors are hopelessly romanticized like that anyway.

What would the gossips say if they knew that that Kuwabara and Yusuke had made a habit of beating the stuffing out of each other, and that Kuwabara had come back to fight him again and again after that first defeat? And that Kuwabara had yet to actually beat him?

How weird was it that they'd gone from the worst of rivals to the best of friends in mere months. Who would have thought?

But as Hiei had put it on countless occasions: "Tch…humans."

**19. Not So Hard**

There is an ogre in Spirit World that swears that the reason that both Yusuke and Kuwabara took the job, was that they had seen the former Spirit Detective Sensui take down a demon.

"That doesn't look so hard," Yusuke remarked to Kuwabara.

"Bet we could do that." The other human said.

That was, apparently, when they decided to become ones themselves.

**20. Mystery**

And what no one has ever been able to figure out, is why so many people of great power and renown were willing to serve under him, had faith in him, and would die for him if it came to that.

--

End


End file.
